Welcome to Her Centre… Empowering women to move away from abuse and forward with their lives.

We offer free and confidential advocacy, counselling, weekly drop in, advice and training in the following areas:

Domestic abuse & violence

Rape & sexual abuse

Young women’s relationship abuse

Legal issues (signpost)

Health

Language skills

Immigration (signposting to specialist)

Emergency housing (relating to domestic violence)

Our IDSVA service has developed to become the heart of the Her Centre. Over the past 3 years our hard working IDSVA team have provided support to 1702 clients who were affected by Domestic and Sexual Abuse. Over the above-mentioned period, we had a total of 2766 client referrals out of which 65% engaged.

Domestic violence and abuse: new definition

The cross-government definition of domestic violence and abuse is:

Any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive, threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between those aged 16 or over who are, or have been, intimate partners or family members regardless of gender or sexuality. The abuse can encompass, but is not limited to:

psychological

physical

sexual

financial

emotional

Controlling behaviour:

Controlling behaviour is a range of acts designed to make a person subordinate and/or dependent by isolating them from sources of support, exploiting their resources and capacities for personal gain, depriving them of the means needed for independence, resistance and escape and regulating their everyday behaviour.

Coercive behaviour:

Coercive behaviour is an act or a pattern of acts of assault, threats, humiliation and intimidation or other abuse that is used to harm, punish, or frighten their victim.

Sexual violence:

Sexual violence is any unwanted sexual act or activity. There are many different kinds of sexual violence, including but not restricted to: rape, sexual assault, child sexual abuse, sexual harassment, rape within marriage / relationships, forced marriage, so-called honour-based violence, female genital mutilation, trafficking, sexual exploitation, and ritual abuse. A more detailed breakdown can be found under the Sexual violence Act 2003.